


Dot Dot Dot

by mooshkabunny



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, One Shot Collection, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22262572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooshkabunny/pseuds/mooshkabunny
Summary: A collection of one shots featuring my Dot Ryder and the goofy and silly romance she had with Reyes Vidal.
Relationships: Female Ryder | Sara/Reyes Vidal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. 6. The externally enforced proximity (Part One of Two)

**Author's Note:**

> This two parter is actually my most recent one, but I really liked it, so I wanted to start with them!

This mission couldn’t have gone more wrong if she had actively TRIED to sabotage it.

“You claustrophobic? I’m not claustrophobic. But I’ve always been interested by the phenomenon of claustrophobia, you know? Like space is just space, however big or small, human beings don’t actually really REQUIRE that much space, it’s just a preference, but like, what an interesting preference right? I mean, you have to wonder if its somehow ingrained in us sociobiologically, like the fear of spiders or snakes, but I would have to guess that it has something to do with our uh… Sleeping… Arrangements.”

She had fully expected to have been interrupted by now. The fact that Dot had not been interrupted by her close quarters companion seemed odd, and brought her back down to the fact of the matter. They had been exploring a cave in Kadara, for a lead on some Rem Tech he had found for them, and offered as a thanks for all the favors. Cave collapsed, two of them stuck inside the only safe nook and what a small nook it was. For a time, she had been trying to convince herself that the Most Beautiful Man in All the Known Universe was just that, objectively, and not the object of an intense (potentially first time for everything) real, honest to God Crush, but standing chest to chest, fully flush up against one another in a dark and solitary cave, slowly running out of air, well, that illuminates things for a person, and well uh.

Yeah. Crush.

He smiled, amused, but also not particularly bothered, clearly thinking of other plans. He put his hands on her waist, peering over her shoulder (probably for a way out, she kept telling herself, willing her face to calm the fuck down with that rising heat). Satisfied that there was nothing there, he looked up, and down, and behind just to be sure.

“If it calms you down, you should keep talking, Pathfinder. I don’t doubt your team is fast at work releasing us, and it seems all other options are… Well. Null and void. So we might as well pass the time.”

“Until we die of asphyxiation,” what a fucking thing to say, Dot.

He laughed, and his nose did a little crinkly thing that he tried to quickly hide by turning his head. As if he hadn’t meant to think it was that funny. A little burst of electricity shot through her, head to toe at the thought. Cool, he thinks I’m funny.

_Or he’s embarrassed, and trying to not let you be afraid, SAM unhelpfully provided. He shut up after that thought._

“I don’t think it will come to that, no,” he said, looking back at her a moment. He wasn’t very tall, but Dot was a short person, and she had to look up at him. He really was quite beautiful, pretty soft lips, and it looked like he’d done a bit of eye makeup today to emphasize their shape, their bright brown color, and she must have been in the first stages of asphyxiation because her mouth was dry. It felt like her heart had started thumping right inside of it.

He coughed though, and a light appeared above them. Small, but full of profound relief when accompanied by Liam shouting down, “Damn, Ryder, you really got stuck. We’ll have you out in a jiff.”

“O-okay, take your time, Liam!” she said, trying to find her voice, and only realizing when Reyes winked at her what she had said.

She realized too that he was blushing, now that she could see from the light.

Huh.

Probably just flushed from the potential asphyxiation. Yeah. That. That was probably it.


	2. 10. The gazing-induced loss of train of thought (Part Two of Two)

“You claustrophobic? I’m not claustrophobic. But I’ve always been interested by the phenomenon of claustrophobia, you know? Like space is just space, however…” she was talking, and oddly enough it was calming. He was not claustrophobic, but the fact of the matter was they were trapped in a cove in a cave smashed together and with very little air. He had no doubt that the Pathfinder’s team would find a way to rescue them, but that did not stop him from being mildly worried—it still was, all around, a terrible situation. He had found a lead on some interesting RemTech, and perhaps, maybe, he wanted the excuse to see her. But this had certainly not been what he’d had in mind. No, no, even with the added benefit of being flush against one another, imminent suffocation or crushed to death by rocks were not things he had had in mind in wanting to see Dot today.

She was a very small person—he wasn’t tall, but she had to have been barely five foot. She was shaking, mostly from adrenaline, he noted, as she didn’t seem afraid. In fact, she seemed hyped up, which he had to keep himself from laughing at. Only the Pathfinder would be excited to be stuck in a pile of rocks. And she did not seem afraid of staring. She looked at him directly, watching with big brown green eyes, her thoughts just as fast as her mouth, which seemed it could go on a constant tirade if given the chance. He wasn’t about to stop her. It honestly was helping.

But Reyes was not good with silence, and when her voice trailed off, they were left to just stare. She swallowed. It wrinkled her nose in such a way that put him to mind of a small mouse, and he wanted to laugh again, but didn’t. All he could feel was how close they were, the heat share between them against the biting cold of the stone around them, how comforting it would be to lean into the closeness and just be held…

Instead he took the opportunity to look behind her, having to awkwardly grasp at her waist to be able to lean over to get a good look at the stone behind her. Nothing. Now the question was would she be offended if he took his hands off her or kept them? He was thinking too long about it, and just kept up the charade of looking for any opening—there was none, he knew that already, but he’d already started this, and he was starting to feel a bit light headed.

Air, it was about air. And he was starting to feel its lack. Or perhaps he was getting nervous. He looked back to her, shyly, “If it calms you down, you should keep talking, Pathfinder. I don’t doubt your team is fast at work releasing us, and it seems all other options are… Well. Null and void. So we might as well pass the time.”

“Until we die of asphyxiation,” what a fucking thing to say, Dot.

He couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud. One he hadn’t in quite some time—he could feel the heat rise in his face as his nose crinkled and he quickly hid. His brothers had said something to the effect that he always looked like he was about to sneeze or that he’d sucked on something sour whenever he laughed, and so he avoided letting himself get so comfortable. But that was how Dot was. She made you comfortable. So of course he hid, and tried to bring them back down when he could, ““I don’t think it will come to that, no.”

But he got caught in that stare again. She smiled, and he couldn’t help but think he hadn’t seen that particular one before. Usually she smiled completely, with every inch of her face, bright and shining, completely loose with her self and her expressions. This… Was small. Mostly in her eyes.

Some dust hit him in the face, and he realized he was staring. So he coughed, and looked up, and lo and behold, there was a hole, and there was her team.

“Damn, Ryder, you really got stuck. We’ll have you out in a jiff.”

“O-okay, take your time, Liam!” she squeaked, and the full reality of their situation hit Reyes swiftly. His hands were still on her. He pulled them back as best he could, trying to lean away, and to top it all off, he winked, to put her back at ease when she glanced at him.

It did nothing for him though. His heart was racing, and his face felt hot. He’d get an earful from Keema about this whole endeavor, but the first thing she’d tell him for sure was “This is what you get for chasing around a crush.”


	3. “Why are you/we whispering?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I had so many headcanons for this game. The big one here is that Dot and Scott are twins, but Dot is small and red haired and goofy looking and Scott is tall and tan and dark haired and handsome.

It was a customary sight to see the Pathfinder on Kadara these days. It was even a customary sight to see her in a hurry. It was less customary to run into her at full speed, and see her fall apart into a full freak out.

Reyes wasn’t sure if he should be worried or laugh. “Easy, easy, what’s up? Someone hunting you down, Ryder?”

She grasped his shoulders, and pulled him into an alleyway, looking behind her all the while. “Something like that.”

She didn’t seem worried enough for it to be a real threat, but she was definitely acting strangely. “What’s happening, Ryder?” he asked, seriously, and she looked at him with something between a strangled smile and an apologetic grimace.

“My brother’s in town.”

That… Did not seem like a problem. From everything she had told him about Scott, they got along well. He just looked at her, waiting for an explanation, and for a moment, she looked as though she were going to give, until she pulled him down behind a crate, and held a finger to her mouth.

He glared at her for a moment, rubbing his arm where she gripped too hard. She mouthed an apology, but he was determined to get an answer from her. He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head, and whispered, “No, no, not yet!”

“Why are we whispering?” he replied as quietly, and as full of annoyance as he could muster. He was better suited to being the one sneaking around with the plan—not the one being dragged along. He was finding that he didn’t like it much.

She pointed, and when Reyes looked over the crate, just a bit, he saw a tall human with shaggy black hair, and a turian—the turian Pathfinder, he guessed by the armor.

“ _That’s_ your brother?” Reyes said, and Dot poked him in the rib. He laughed, surprised at the gesture. “What? I’m just taking notice.”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s the hot one,” she grumbled. “He’s looking for you.”

That was a surprising development. He smiled down at her, amused now that he was piecing together what was happening. Even so, he’d make her say it. “Why is that, Ryder?”

She was avoiding looking directly at him, and squirming—everything about her body language betrayed her desire to bounce, jump, do anything that wasn’t sitting behind this crate and dealing with her problems. But finally the silence got to her, “He knows I’m dating someone on Kadara, but I didn’t want to tell him about you until I knew you would be comfortable with that… So he’s snooping with Avitus because he has a crush on him and I guess he’s worried? But that’s stupid, and he’s being nosey and I didn’t… Handle… This well at all.” She deflated at the end, covering her face with her hands. “I’m sorry.”

For his part, he was… Surprisingly touched she gave him that consideration at all. He figured that she would simply tell anyone whatever she wanted to (of course, keeping in mind secret identities). In truth, he figured she wouldn’t tell anyone out of… Discretion? Political savvy? He had no idea she’d keep him a secret solely for his benefit. He delicately peeled her hands away from her face, and kissed them. She looked at him, surprised, but he smiled, and said, still whispering, “Well then, I think this situation calls for some matchmaking on our part, yeah? Or at least, some reverse snooping.”

She beamed. “You’re not mad?”

“Only that you didn’t tell me sooner! Come on, they’re heading to Kralla’s Song now. We’ll have to discuss strategy on the way,” With a wink, and a laugh, they both bounced up, and raced over. Whatever the plan was, hopefully at the end of the day they’d have an embarrassed Scott and Avitus, and a pleasant, and memorable first meeting. Reyes always tried to deliver.


	4. 13. A kiss we had to wait for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another headcanon: Dot and Reyes's true great loves are Star Trek and Star Wars and they often have fake arguments about which is better. They also cosplay together. 
> 
> Because I think Captain Kirk and Han Solo should kiss.

It was something they were used to, as a couple. Pathfinding often kept Dot away from Kadara, and when she was able to visit, any number of duties (ranging from smuggling to managing the planet with Keema) often kept Reyes away from her. Waiting was not too terrible a problem—it simply made the eventual reunions all the sweeter.

It did not make him miss her less though, and after another months long interlude without seeing one another, things seemed to finally have come together just so they could have a whole day just for one another. He had plans. Mostly of the ‘staying in doors and ignoring everyone else but each for 24 blissful hours’ variety, but plans nonetheless he knew Dot would enjoy! He had found a bootlegged copy of a vid from his childhood that somehow, against all odds, had made it to Andromeda, and he was desperate to subject her to the worst Star Wars had to offer (she’d already seen the best and come around to accepting that it was, in her words, ‘Just as good as Star Trek’, so he figured she’d been a team player enough to see the worst of it as well). They would drink, laugh, hook up, all the good things they fit in 24 hours to make up for the months apart.

And he waited for her, at Diteon, hoping to drive with her back to Kadara, show her some of the cleared up lakes along the way. Colonists and Kadara residents had begun to set up little beach campsites around them, and he knew she’d be pleased. 

After 30 minutes, two pings, one from Keema, and another from Dot, brought him back from pleasant beach fantasies and Star Wars Christmas Special thoughts.

_Kobayashi Maru Situation. Need Assistance. -K_

__

__

_Sorry, love, ran into some strange remtech out in the atmosphere—wanna deal with it, make sure it doesn’t land anywhere weird, maybe poke it—you know the drill. I’ll message when I head over! <3 _

By now, it was mostly something to laugh about rather than get too disappointed by. Especially since Dot would be thrilled that Keema had taken his advice on code phrases inspired by her. Luckily, they seemed like minor issues. It would be only a matter of time before their day could commence as planned.

A Kobayashi Maru situation (“Maneuver,” Dot would have corrected) was one that seemed relatively impossible, but Reyes’s ability to charm his way out of most situations meant that he usually could cheat a way for it to resolve in their favor.

Zia Cordier was making that difficult. Still sore about the shootout, no doubt, and that he’d had her briefly imprisoned for a time _after_ that shootout, she had decided to set up her own colony on the far side of the planet, and was demanding equal compensation, despite being a direct competitor. “To make up for my troubles,” she had said, and in all honesty, he couldn’t blame her. Didn’t mean he was happy about it.

“Keema, I’m not sure that I was the best person to call for this,” he whispered grumpily to her, but she simply groaned, as they passed back the latest trade agreement Zia called for.

“No dice, Reyes. I won’t settle for less than I asked for,” Zia tossed back the agreement carelessly, and knowing how important it was to seem at ease, Keema and he watched it fall and crack on the floor. “It’s the. _Very_. Absolute. _Least_. You could do for me. Especially after I helped get rid of the Outcast stragglers.”

Keema sneered. Zia hadn’t so much helped get rid of any stragglers as she had enlisted them with promises of the destruction of the Charlatan, who she had no idea was sitting in front of her. They were exchanging valuable assets, territory that belonged to the Angara, and were to publicly out the Charlatan, so that they could answer for the murder of Sloane Kelly. By all accounts, it was a sound move, especially when Zia promised she could talk down the issue of the Charlatan in exchange for the other parts of the deal. But those too weren’t things the Collective would be pleased to give up. It was almost evening now, the whole day wasted on negotiations, and he hadn’t heard from Dot in hours. He was irritated. He was tired. And worst of all, he was stumped. Zia might have known more than she let on, and that didn’t sit well with Reyes at all. He needed some move that gave them more time to decipher what Zia knew, how to give without giving, how to avoid the problem all together, really, but so far, he was at a complete loss. And losing irritated Reyes more than losing his day off.

He was almost ready to relent, until he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The window opening showing the outside of Kadara Port had been getting steadily darker as the hours went on… Now… They were awash with light.

“Reyes,” Keema’s voice was filled with agitated concern, and suddenly, the ground shook, as something fell from the sky to the Port below.

When they steadied themselves, they all grabbed the weapons they had promised not to bring to the negotiations, and raced for the window to see what had fallen on the port.

“Stay back! Not dangerous, but still, better to keep clear!” Liam Kosta shouted, drifted down from the sky after whatever had left the crater in front of Kralla’s Song. From their office, Reyes could see Umi race out to shout as Drack followed after Liam, laughing boisterously.

Quickly after, was a bright, golden light, slamming down into Remnant tentacles that tried to rise out of the crater.

“Oh shit, I thought it was already deactivated?” he thought he heard Liam say, as Drack joined the Pathfinder in the crater and a tiny shootout began. Keema muttered something under her breath. Zia looked absolutely horrified.

Reyes laughed. _That’s one way to stall negotiations,_ he thought, and raced down to meet the Pathfinder’s crew.

Once down there, the shoot out ended, smoke rising from the crater, and Drack dragging the Pathfinder out of the tangle of Remnant wires.

“Just, okay, wait, Drack, I ALMOST had the code this time, if I interface with it again, I think I can get it to work like its supposed to and NOT attack incoming shuttles!”

“Six tries and you’re out, Ryder,” Drack bellowed, still smiling. “Let’s just take this back to the Tempest and let Peebee play with it there.”

“Yeah, away from civilians,” Liam offered, affectionately mussing Dot’s hair as she removed her helmet. Both parted from her knowingly as she turned and saw Reyes.

“Sorry about your port!” she said, her smile halfway between a guilty grimace and betraying just how excited she was to finally see him. “I got people who can fix that for you,” she adjusted her glasses, looking around, and seeing Zia and Keema in the office window above them. “Sir,” she added, completely unconvincingly.

He winked, and they knew each other well enough now when to put on the show. “Sorry? Sorry isn’t going to repair that crater, Pathfinder! You are really pushing your goodwill here!”

“Well, I never!” she was never good at it, but he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as she exaggeratedly tossed her helmet into the crater and put her hands on her hips. “I am the _Pathfinder_ , personal friend of the Charlatan, and I will not be spoken to by some _smuggler_ … Guy. Even handsome ones. I demand to speak to my dear friend, Charlie, right now.”

He did laugh. “Charlie?”

“Charlie the Charlatan, its my nickname for my best friend, the Charlatan! I wouldn’t expect handsome smugglers to know things like that about them,” she winked back, and playfully stormed off, waggling her eyebrows suggestively as she passed. 

They moved the conversation away, playing up the fight for all to see. He’d have to deal with Keema, Zia, and the crater later, but at least that latter part, he knew he could trust Dot to aid with. For all the chaos the Pathfinder brought, she always fixed things up right away—that was her favorite part after all. And she was always good on her word.

In an alleyway, away from prying eyes, he could smile at the thought that here was someone he could trust implicitly. He did smile that she was home.

She pulled him in for a kiss, holding him tightly, fiercely, and he felt safe, happy, and relieved to finally be with her again. “Sorry… For real. About the crater. And the mess ruining our day off together,” she whispered against his lips, and looked up at him guiltily, glasses askew.

He kissed her nose, before wrapping her up in a giant hug. “Tann can pay for it, right?” They laughed, and he pulled away, just to be able to look at her again, reacquaint himself with the moles on her face, her lopsided, eager grin, and that mop of shaggy red hair of hers, longer than the last time he saw her. “I missed you, Dorothy.”

And that smile, the one he’d come to know truly meant she was home, a big, beaming grin that scrunched up her whole face into one glowing look all for him. “I missed you too, Reyes.”

It would have made more sense to wait until they were home, to wait until all their messes were sorted out, but they had already been waiting so long. And sometimes it was better, with the lives they led, just to indulge in the quiet, blissful moments in shadowed alleyways and not wait anymore.


	5. Have you lost your mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one still is my fave. <3

“So! I have a surprise for you,” Dot said, beaming from ear to ear. Reyes had been invited to meet her out by the outpost, which was surprise enough—he hadn’t yet been to the outpost (although he had plans to, as an associate of the Charlatan, of course), but she said that this had explicitly not been about business. He had walked with the Pathfinder, passed the outpost’s colonists and scientists, who all watched him with vague interest and distrust (as expected), thinking perhaps it would have been better to introduce himself first before accepting Dot’s invitation out here. Still, it had been awhile since he’d been able to see her, busy as he was settling the Collective’s control over Kadara Port, and busy as she was with pathfinding. She’d explained that upon returning to Kadara, she’d fixed the remnant Vault, defeated some remnant beast that a cult had taken to worshipping (he had heard about that, meaning to put an end to it, and grateful he wouldn’t need to now), and here now was the surprise. He hoped the surprise was explaining what all of that meant, still not quite understanding the remnant’s role in Heleus.

“I do like surprises,” he said, although he didn’t like the lead up. Not being in the familiar walls of Kadara Port did put him a bit on edge. The outpost was off limits to his people, of course, and no one would dare attack the Initiative directly, but the badlands still had that effect of instant caution.

Dot seemed to notice, and quickly did something he found quite surprisingly pleasant indeed: she removed her jacket, and the track pants soon after—he had to laugh at precisely how uninterested and unsurprised all the scientists around him were. “This doesn’t quite have the privacy of our cave rendezvous,” he teased, and she just winked.

“Unfortunately… Well, maybe fortunately. It’s not that kind of surprise!” With that, she bolted, diving from the outpost’s raised platforms, straight into the incredibly toxic, usually on fire, waters of Kadara.

There were a few instances in Reyes Vidal’s life where his heart stopped. He didn’t like to think about them, and so he didn’t revisit them, but they were there, as with anyone’s life. He was, genuinely, surprised to find that his heart stopped now, thinking of Dot Ryder diving into certain doom. He raced forward, trying to grab her, stopping short of diving in himself.

The waters of Kadara, though toxic and deadly, were beautifully clear. The sight below the platform was the same as the waters had always looked—a neon blue, too bright to be safe, like a poison dart frog. But there, underneath the surface of the lake, was the Pathfinder, swimming as though this were not a toxic lake on a planet lightyears away from their home planet, but rather the crystalline shores of a beach on Hawaii.

She surfaced, still wearing that beaming smile, looking far too pleased with herself with how his heart was pounding.

“Have you lost your mind?” he said, low, and trying to summon any of his customary mirth and charm, but finding only breathlessness. He couldn’t even fake a laugh.

“Not at all! I just fixed the Vault! While there’s still sulfur in small enough quantities that its not safe enough to drink without filtration, this water is A-Okay for swimming! Wanna try?”

After a moment of complete bewilderment, Reyes did laugh. “And you thought you’d _surprise me_ with that information?”

Her look faltered. “Uh… Huh. Well, now that you mention it…”

She did not finish her sentence before he too disrobed and cannonballed into the water, drenching her.

That had to be one for the history books (or at least, his personal one…): the first splash fight on Kadara.


End file.
